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[Reudh]

Also remember you have a sandvich for heals. The Tomigruvich playstyle is alive and well with the Gun Mettle Update, obviously just needing the Tomislav, sandvich, and Gloves of running urgently. It's a very self-sufficient heavy playstyle useful in pubs.

I love this. This is easily my go-to Heavy loadout, sometimes swapping out for Natascha due to its slowdown + 20% damage reduction

[EnigmaticHat]

I thought that was common sense not worth bringing up.

With TF2 I never assume what is and isn't common sense.  Anything, up to and including how to move, is in question.

[miauw62]

Yeah, afterburn has a pretty nice psychological effect. It's a guaranteed guaranteed 60 damage unless they use up some of their resources, and their medic may be busy.

That said, pyro hard-counters pyro in this case, and dispensers are also a thing.

[JoshuaFH]

I thought that was common sense not worth bringing up.

With TF2 I never assume what is and isn't common sense.  Anything, up to and including how to move, is in question.

You're 100% right there! It's very easy to size up the experience and skill of a player just by watching them walk and move around. Good players have trained themselves to always be moving erratically, every touch of the WASD has purpose, and nothing is wasted. New players on the other hand are freqently holding still or moving in straight lines, are often confused and unsure of what to do or where to go, and aren't mindful of their environment; leading to funny moments where they walk into the insta-gib sawblades or off a death cliff.

There's also other benign skills that prove vitally important that you'd normally never think about:

Awareness: Probably 80% of the 'real' skill of TF2 just comes from awareness. Keeping your eyes and ears open at all times to gain a full grasp of what's happening around you. You won't be caught off guard nearly as often, you'll catch others off guard! You'll be mindful of good opportunities and where both safety and danger is.

Listening: This just ties into awareness, but I just want to mention that TF2 confers SO MUCH information through audio, it's nuts. If you really listen and pay attention, you can hear nearby players footsteps, and it's possible to track invisible spies this way. All classes have unique grunts and screams for whatever, so you can get a good idea of if they've been hit and are hurt before even looking at them. If you hear "I'm movin this" you know it's time to rush up and whoop an engineer's ass while he's carrying his sentry (or you might get unlucky and he was carrying his dispenser the whole time). Additionally, while heavy's slow movement speed is his 1# weakness, his 2# weakness is his minigun, because while it's the strongest weapon in the game by far, it is also the NOISIEST. When you're revved up, the whirring and firing noise drowns out other nearby noises, so not only are you probably being tunnel visioned trying to shoot something, but your ears are being covered up as well! It's another thing that makes it easy for spies to just decloak behind you, because otherwise they'd be heard out. Having a good set of headphones is a must in this game, a must must must.

Discipline: This is a very dire and serious trait to talk about when discussing a videogame, but TF2 demands it so often and so severely that it can't be ignored. When firing a weapon like a rocket launcher, it is VERY tempting to just spam at people's feet and hope for the best. When using a weapon like the SMG or Pistol, it's very tempting to just spam into someone's general direction and hope for the best. When you're caught off guard by a pyro and taking damage, it's very tempting to panic and run away. TF2 is a game that requires "Hard Decisiveness", in that in a split second you have to decided what the best course of action is, and then stick to it, not just what your emotions tell you is correct. You have to be always mindful of prediction so you can score directs with rockets, always mindful of spread and the location of the crosshair and the enemy so pistol shots hit, and being able to size up an enemy in an instant so you can dedicate yourself to killing them even if you're being rushed down. Someone who is very disciplined will hit more shots because they can wait for a good shot in a stressful situation, will not panic when surprised, and can make hard choices when pressed for time.

Interpersonal Skills: Naturally, in a teamwork-centric game like this, being able to both communicate and cooperate with your team members is of vital importance. As obvious as it is, alot of people don't have interpersonal skills, they are deliberately nasty and stubborn. A bad attitude holds them back when oftentimes the key to success is found in being able to cooperate with those around you.

Thanks for reading my impromptu powerpoint presentation, have a nice day now.

[IcyTea31]

-snip-

I agree with you on every point, but more important than these skills is the ability to combine them into Game Sense, to know why to do things in addition to how.

A good spy can destroy a sentry covering a point and capture it. A great spy coordinates with a friendly demoman to sneakily capture the point while he blasts the sentry. A good scout can kill a heavy+medic combo. A great scout distracts them while a friendly spy stabs them. A good engineer can set up a sentry to completely shut down an area. A great engineer builds a teleporter so that area doesn't need to be shut down.

Knowing what you don't need to do is good for knowing what you do need to do.  Support your team and it will support you.

[Calidovi]

-snip-

I agree with you on every point, but more important than these skills is the ability to combine them into Game Sense, to know why to do things in addition to how.

A good spy can destroy a sentry covering a point and capture it. A great spy coordinates with a friendly demoman to sneakily capture the point while he blasts the sentry. A good scout can kill a heavy+medic combo. A great scout distracts them while a friendly spy stabs them. A good engineer can set up a sentry to completely shut down an area. A great engineer builds a teleporter so that area doesn't need to be shut down.

Knowing what you don't need to do is good for knowing what you do need to do.  Support your team and it will support you.

So are you suggesting that gamesense == teamwork? Because if so, I have a long rant about that that I'm not too keen to share.

[IcyTea31]

In the broadest of terms, game sense is knowing what's going on in the game, and using that knowledge most effectively. Teamwork is a very large part of that, but by no means the only one.

[hops]

Nothing is funnier than Hadouken-ing snipers. So many snipers spend their time scoped in it's hilarious. You can easily tell who's a CS:GO player from that, too. Your average CS:GO player in TF2 seems unaware of their ability to move, even though they can fuck your shit up if they see you.

[Calidovi]

Nothing is funnier than Hadouken-ing snipers. So many snipers spend their time scoped in it's hilarious. You can easily tell who's a CS:GO player from that, too. Your average CS:GO player in TF2 seems unaware of their ability to move, even though they can fuck your shit up if they see you.

Even going from CS to Fistful of Frags is difficult enough for me. I can't imagine trying to become once-more adept at TF2's aiming.

[Spehss _]

I thought CS players were all about running with knives out and quick scoping and shit.

[Calidovi]

I thought CS players were all about running with knives out and quick scoping and shit.

I'll admit, CS looks very juvenile when you look at it from an outside perspective and don't really understand it. But then you try it, you get into it, you win some and you lose some, and then you understand it. It's a tough game. Perhaps not as mechanically intensive, but you have to work together to win in the higher levels.

[Spehss _]

I thought CS players were all about running with knives out and quick scoping and shit.

I'll admit, CS looks very juvenile when you look at it from an outside perspective and don't really understand it. But then you try it, you get into it, you win some and you lose some, and then you understand it. It's a tough game. Perhaps not as mechanically intensive, but you have to work together to win in the higher levels.

I was responding to Objective Cinder's comment on CS:GO snipers staying scoped and immobile in TF2. Unless I misread and he's saying you can tell who CS:GO players are by who doesn't do that. Staying scoped and immobile seems very adverse to the CS playstyle I know of.

[Calidovi]

I thought CS players were all about running with knives out and quick scoping and shit.

I'll admit, CS looks very juvenile when you look at it from an outside perspective and don't really understand it. But then you try it, you get into it, you win some and you lose some, and then you understand it. It's a tough game. Perhaps not as mechanically intensive, but you have to work together to win in the higher levels.

I was responding to Objective Cinder's comment on CS:GO snipers staying scoped and immobile in TF2. Unless I misread and he's saying you can tell who CS:GO players are by who doesn't do that. Staying scoped and immobile seems very adverse to the CS playstyle I know of.

Hardscoping in CS is looked down upon and is not quite useful, but it is true that moving while scoped immensely reduces accuracy with all weapons, especially with rifles.

[Rose]

I don't know about CS:GO, but classic counter strike players that I've seen are always moving around and only scoping long enough to take quick headshots

[Calidovi]

I don't know about CS:GO, but classic counter strike players that I've seen are always moving around and only scoping long enough to take quick headshots

Right. They stop for the split second they need to scope in and shoot.